Let America Be America Again By Langston Hughes: Poem Analysis

America is viewed as a land of opportunity and success, but within this American dream lies a darker narrative of exploitation and oppression. While “Let America Be America Again”, a poem by Langston Hughes, addresses both accounts of the American dream, Hughes’ use of allusions highlights the historical disparity created by industrial America. In “Let America Be America Again,” there is a conversation between two opposing sides of the American Dream. One side is riddled with greed and success whilst the other has been used as a stepladder for their counterpart. The successful side continues to take advantage of the exploited side and widens the economic gap between the two perspectives. The triumphant perspective represents the narrative …show more content…
In this line, Hughes alludes to the Social Darwinism ideology that manifested during the second period of industrialization in America. Social Darwinism was a belief that those who were poor were poor because they did not work hard enough, and it subjected the exploited working class to the natural selection laws of nature. By alluding to Social Darwinism, Hughes is blaming the ideology for the disparity between the classes, and calling attention to this class system that was reinforced by industrialization. During industrialization, the economic difference between the upper and lower classes widened; while the rich got richer, the poor became poorer. Hughes attributed to this widened economic gap to, “the rack and ruin of our gangster death, the rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies”(Hughes). Hughes is using this line to reference the political machine, an organized party that controlled American politics and industry during the industrialisation era. Political machines took advantage of the oppressed industry workers, and oftentimes those in power could get away with heinous crime, such as the “rape” Hughes